Transformers Prime: Operation Blackout
by Jumana
Summary: A young girl has come to attention of M.E.C.H and now they will do anything to get her. Will the Autobots be able to protect her, and prevent M.E.C.H from carrying out their plan? Please R&R. Cross over fiction X-Men/TF Prime.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Transformers Prime (owned by Hasbro) nor X-Men (owned by Marvel).**

**This is set before the episode 'Nemesis Prime.' in an AU cross-over universe. I don't own the Transformers or Marvel Characters I just do this for fun.**

**Chapter 1**

It was another hot spring day in Jasper, Nevada; the inhabitants of the town were going about their daily business unaware that mechanical beings from another planet were hiding under their very noses.

Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead were carrying out their regular morning patrols just to make sure M.E.C.H or the Decepticons for that matter, did not cause any trouble. The 'Cons had gotten more desperate and reckless recently in their hunt for energon and the Autobots could not let them do anything that would endanger the native inhabitants of the planet.  
M.E.C.H on the other hand was more Fowler's department and Arcee knew he had been trying his best to hunt them down, but they were just as slippery as the 'Cons, if not more so.  
Whilst driving through town the Autobots maintained their Earth vehicle disguises, and would only radio base or each other when it was necessary. Driving out of town, Arcee waited until there was no one in sight before transforming up into her robot mode. Placing a servo onto her helm, she signalled home base.

"This is Arcee, I've finished scanning quadrant delta-four-zero and its all clear, I am now moving on to theta-one-zero." She paused and waited a beat before Ratchet responded on the other end.  
"Acknowledged Arcee, keep up the good work and there might be an energon goodie for you when you get back." The medic replied sardonically.  
"Roger that, don't eat them all. Remember to save one for me." Arcee replied cheekily before signing off.  
So far, it had been very quiet but Arcee knew that could all so easily change in an astro-minute.

Transforming back down into her motorbike mode, she sped off to the next quadrant where needed.

-88-88-88-

Stifling a yawn, Miko ate her breakfast cereal at the kitchen table, whilst she half listened to her host parents having a conversation that Miko guessed had to do with how badly she was doing at school.

Sure, they had threatened her with telling her parents in Tokyo, but they never followed through with the threat. Not that it worried Miko; she was having too much fun with the Autobots to care. Her best Auto-buddy Bulkhead could be a pill sometimes, especially when he would nag her to do homework. However, she would find herself quickly forgiving him, if he promised to watch the television series "Monster Truck Mashup" with her.

Bulk was unable to give her a lift to school today as he was pulling extra scouting duties with Bumblebee. Optimus Prime had ordered him to help seek more energon because the Autobots were in desperate need of it.

Feeling bored of listening to her host parents' talk about her, Miko plugged in her earphones and turned up the volume on her I-Pod to block out her host parents serious conversation. Allowing her mind to drift away with the music, Miko smiled to herself and wondered what kind of day it was going to be.

Elsewhere across town, another teenage girl was thinking the exact same thing. Rolling her eyes, Sabirah tried to block out her mothers' nagging by putting on her earphones and listening to music.  
The cereal in her bowl had long since turned into a soggy damp mess; pushing it around with her spoon, she locked eyes with her sister Hayley, who was acting very much like a typical fifteen-year-old kid. She was being obnoxious as usual, making rude obscene gestures behind their mothers' back trying to make her angry. Usually it worked, but today Sabirah could not muster up enough energy to say anything and had resorted to glaring instead.  
"Sabirah Angela Stevenson, are you even LISTENING TO ME?" her mother yelled getting more irate by her daughters lackadaisical attitude.

Startled back to reality, the young girl lost her grip on the spoon she was holding. Mesmerised she watched in slow motion as it clattered into the bowl, causing milk to splash onto the brown wooden kitchen table.  
"Huh? What is it you want me to do mom?" She replied taking off her earphones to listen.  
Letting out an exasperated sigh, the mother sat herself at the table and began rubbing her temples to ward away the threatening headache that lurked there.  
"I am asking you to microwave dinner for you and your sister tonight; there is macaroni and cheese in the fridge that I made the night before,"  
"Oh joy!" Sabirah interrupted, making gagging noises in her throat causing her sister to chuckle at her antics. She knew that their mothers' idea of cooking was the burnt on variety of food.  
Ignoring her daughter's sarcasm she continued, "I will be home late from the hospital, I'm sure I can trust you not to have any wild parties or raves whilst I'm gone cant I?"  
"Yes mom!" The two girls synchronously replied, nodding their heads in agreement.  
"Good," Smiling the mother leaned over the table, kissing each of her daughters on the forehead, much to their dismay.  
"MOOM!" they both whined, making her chuckle with dry amusement.

Outside the house, the school bus honked its horn to signal its arrival. Wriggling out of her mothers' tight grip Sabirah picked up her school bag and placed her laptop and pencil case inside doing up the zip.  
She was just about to leave when her mother called her back again.  
"Oh and Sabirah try not to get in trouble at school. The last thing we need is moving to another state again."  
Feeling her pale ivory cheeks flush with anger, Sabirah angrily gritted her teeth together before slamming the door hard behind her.  
Deep down she knew she was the reason why they had moved to this dust bowl town in the first place.

It had all started three years ago, when she had gotten into deep trouble at her last school for hacking the computer network. She had made everyone at school miss classes by mixing up the dates and the times of the schedules. The teachers eventually managed to track down one of her accomplices, a bored little rich kid called Leon Davies. He had told them that it was her idea even though he was the mastermind behind it all. The rest of the group then came forward and pretty much said the same thing, which resulted in her being a scapegoat for everything that had happened. No one believed her that she was set-up. Not even the judge and she ended up doing time in a Juvenile Detention Centre. Her mother and father split up shortly thereafter which led them to relocate to this hellhole of a place.

Stomping her biker booted feet moodily down the driveway she lined up outside the school bus along with other students who were waiting.  
Her little sister was nowhere in sight and that suited her down to the ground. She was probably off talking to one of her friends from class.  
That was one thing Sabirah was envious about her little sister she could make friends easily where ever she went, herself on the other hand was never able to make friends that easy. She would never let them get too close to her. God forbid she let anyone ever find out her secret, it would destroy her mother if it did get out.

So lost in her thoughts, Sabirah had not noticed that the line in front had moved and felt someone pushing her roughly from behind.  
"Hey Goth girl, wakey, wakey ya dumb bimbo and board the bus!" the boy laughed high-fiving his friends who joined in on the mirth.  
Sabirah turned to see who had shoved her, and was confronted by a snot nosed ginger haired punk who was probably about her age and a bad attitude to match.  
"Hey leave her alone Vince! You're not the line police or nothing!" A dark haired boy shouted his face obscured due to the fact he was standing directly behind the red haired teen.

"Shut it Derby, or I'll make you!" Vince snarled whirling round to face him he grabbed the dark haired boy by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the bus, making the metal creak slightly as they made contact.  
Struggling against the other teens' strong grip the dark haired boy choked out, "It's Darby, moron!"  
"Shut up Darby I don't need you to tell me how to say stuff!" Vince retorted narrowing his eyes menacingly.  
Putting her slender hand on Vince's freckled arm, a young red-haired girl intervened before the tough-guy showdown turned ugly.  
"Alright Vince that is enough, just get on the bus already we're going to be late," The red head smiled brightly rolling her eyes, "and you know Mr. Fredrickson is a tough teacher when it comes to tardiness."  
Shoving Darby away from him, Vince boarded the bus but not before giving his rival a deadly look that conveyed the message "Embarrass me like that again and you're dead Darby!"

Sighing with relief Sabirah sat herself down at the back of the bus along with all the other rejects and weirdoes that attended Jasper High School.  
She had not wanted to get involved in a fight so soon since her arrival in Jasper. Nevertheless, it seemed that trouble always had a habit of finding her whether she liked it or not.  
The boy who was her 'saviour' seemed like a decent kid, a little naïve maybe but cute none the less.  
"Wait a minute cute? Where the hell did that come from?!" Sabirah admonished herself, remembering the vow she had taken never to get involved with some lest they find out the truth about her.

"Ahem." A male voice standing above her cleared his throat to get her attention. It was her saviour again; her hazel eyes watched him as he shifted nervously from foot to foot, his blue eyes avoiding her gaze.  
"Do you mind if I sit there? There are no more seats on the bus." Darby asked politely.  
Feeling the blush heat creep up her neck, she bowed her head slightly to have her long dark hair covering her face before she nodded her accession.  
Smiling gratefully the boy sat down next to her and proffered his hand towards her. Sabirah looked at him warily, realising she would need to shut the guy down fast if he thought they were going to be friends.  
"Hi my name is Jack Darby, and you are?" he queried.  
"That is none of your damn business Jack!" She spat back, unwilling to offer any sign of friendship to him.  
Taken aback but not deterred by her hostility Jack tried another method of approach.  
"Well that's gratitude for ya. There I was minding my own business and then I had to save your butt from Vincent Gardner, the local bully. He sure is a jerk but if you avoid him, you're pretty much OK. "

"Thank you, I am grateful." She mumbled under breath. Continuing to stare out the window, she had hoped he would give up this fruitless endeavour of trying to be friends However, her companion was anything but bright.  
Looking out the window, he pointed to a woman in a nurse's uniform who was waving and blowing kisses at her.  
"Hey is that your mom?" he queried.  
Feeling her skin prickle with heat that had now spread throughout her entire body, the Goth girl buried her head in her hands embarrassed that her mom would show her up like this.  
"So your mom is a nurse huh? She must work with my mom at the local hospital." Jack continued oblivious to the fact he was getting nowhere with this girl.  
"Yes that is correct."  
"So yeah that's errr, pretty cool huh?"  
"Not really."  
"Well you're a conversationalist aren't you?" he retorted sarcastically.  
Feeling tired of the conversation, Sabirah resignedly rubbed her eyes before stating,  
"Look Jack Derby, or whatever the hell your name is. I don't care about you or your stupid little family. I just want to be left alone; I have thanked you for assisting me in dealing with that jerk but honestly I don't want you stalking me so leave me the hell alone!"  
"Wait a minute, I am not a stalker! You ask anyone here, I just want to get to know you!"

Turning her head away from him, she leaned against the bus window and plugged in her headphones ensuring that the volume was loud enough to drown out any conversation. Realising he was not getting anywhere with the girl, Jack turned his attention to Miko who was sat on the bus seat in front of him.  
"So, mister lover, lover struck out again huh?" She teased grinning with mirth.  
Shaking his head, Jack pointed his thumb at the strange Goth girl sat next to him.  
"Who do you mean her? She's definitely a strange one. But even after I saved her from Vince she won't even show me a smidgen of gratitude!"  
"Jack," Miko paused and brought her face closer to his, "you really need to work on your pick up lines dude."  
Annoyed and embarrassed, the teen boy shoved her playfully away before he replied, "Yeah, yeah shut up!"

Behind the bus, a small, metallic, sparrow like creature flew gently through the air as it followed the vehicle to its destination.  
Gliding down in to the trees it perched on a well-concealed branch, scaring a group of pigeons from their resting place.  
There it waited, monitoring all activity within the school, feeding all the information directly back to M.E.C.H.


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Transformers Prime (owned by Hasbro) nor X-Men (owned by Marvel).**

**This is set before the episode 'Nemesis Prime.' in an AU cross-over universe. I don't own the Transformers or Marvel Characters I just do this for fun.**

**Chapter 2**

Deep underground in the Nevada desert, M.E.C.H. had set up a new base of operations. Within the command centre, a tired, gruff old man wearing a standard black uniform with white hair and a haggard scarred complexion sat calmly at his command post. He had been watching the live footage of the feed that was coming in from the spy-bird, which he had sent to spy on the target.

"Are there any time lapses on the feed we are receiving?" He asked a subordinate who was working at a console.  
The subordinate shook his head negative, and carried on with his duties.  
The white haired man known to the Autobots and American government as rogue soldier Silas Leland Bishop slowly manoeuvred his hand over the control as he focused the camera on a girl who was wearing black jeans and a tee shirt with some rock band slogan on. The girl in question was surrounded by a group of teens both male and female. Her main tormentor was a ginger haired kid, who was taunting her and pushing her around, whilst his cronies sniggered and laughed.  
The girl seemed so small, unassuming, and shy but Silas knew that looks could be deceiving.  
He had managed to obtain private government files, which detailed a mutant project called 'Project: Weapon X'. It went on into gory detail of how they had found a mutant man who possessed amazing healing capabilities and who went on to volunteer himself for a procedure called 'Adamantium Bonding'.

Subsequently afterwards the volunteer had become indestructible and went rogue on a killing spree, which resulted in the program being mothballed and put away in storage. Along with all the other dirty little secrets that the government did not want the public to know about.  
'With that much power,' Silas mused to himself, 'he would have made a fine solider.'  
He had also uncovered details of a 'secret mutant academy' that was located within the suburban town of North Salem in Westchester County, New York. It also included unofficial records of known mutants living within the United States.

One of the mutants on the list was of particular interest to Silas, a Marcus Daggert who had changed his name by deed poll to Stevenson. He had gotten married and had two daughters, the eldest of which at the tender age of thirteen ended up in Juvenile Hall for sabotaging her schools computers. After his marriage had broken down, he had ended up moving to Chicago working as a dish cleaner for a local restaurant. On March 16th 2010, he had died in a drive-by shooting whilst walking home from work. The police was never able to find the shooter, which resulted in the case being filed under 'unsolved homicide murders'. The war on mutants was another problem for another day. All Silas could think about at present was ridding the Earth of the robotic monsters who had landed on his planet. He needed the girl to do it though, and Silas was determined to complete his mission by any means necessary

"Continue monitoring the live feed," He said addressing the same subordinate from before, "I want to know everything she does."  
The sentry nodded his acknowledgement as Silas got up from his chair and exited the room. Making his way through the maze of corridors, he had reached his destination the science department.

Entering the room, Silas greeted the occupants with a half-hearted salute. Walking over to the desk, he spoke to the elderly doctor who sat on a stool at his desk, looking at a specimen in his microscope.  
"Greetings Doctor," Silas said, "I trust you have the D.N.A profile of the girl in question?"  
Turning his attention to Silas, the doctor tossed a large manila envelope to him that was on his desk.  
"I can confirm that the girl does have some mutant genes within her. Now it could be a small capability such as mild empathic powers or," the doctor paused, letting his words sink in, "she could have extremely strong and destructive powers the likes of which would rival Magneto or for that matter-The Phoenix."  
Silas nodded taking in what the doctor was telling him. He understood the doctors concerns, but it was unavoidable in order to rid the human race of a bigger threat that plagued their planet.  
"She's a perfect candidate for the test, we shall begin Operation: Blackout as planned, and nothing will stand in our way. Not even the Autobots."  
Talking off his glasses, the doctor polished them rigorously with the edge of his faded blue shirt. He knew that deep down this was wrong and so he tried to reason with the other man.  
"Sir, in my honest opinion, I don't think using the girl this way is very ethic-"The doctor was unable to complete his sentence as he was struck hard across face by Silas.  
Grabbing hold of his desk, he had managed to haul himself into a sitting position on his chair. Taking out a handkerchief from the left pocket of his lab coat, he dabbed his bleeding lip whilst staring at the other man in shock.

"I will not be questioned do you understand me Doctor?" Silas whispered in a deadly tone, "We are at war and I will continue to do what is necessary, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME DOCTOR?!"

Grabbing the man by the collar of his shirt that he wore under his white lab coat, Silas brought his face closer to his and he could see the fear in the other man's eyes.  
Dropping him onto his chair Silas turned to leave, pausing at the doorway he said,  
"Oh and Doctor don't ever question me again, or you'll regret ever doing so."

He continued walking and as the doors slid shut behind him, he made a mental note to punish the man later for his insolence.

-88-88-88-

Striding quickly down the school corridor, Sabirah made her way to the girls toilets and slammed the door open, causing the two teen girls who were already in there to jump with fright. Once they had recovered, the blonde girl nudged her friend and winked before addressing Sabirah.  
"Whoa, jeeze newbie what happened to you?" the blonde girl asked innocently, a smirk curled on her lips, " oh I get it, did a bird shit on you or something? Well I don't blame it for doing so!"  
"I have to say newbie," The second girl chimed in, "this is a new look for you!"  
Both of them howled out laughing and high-fived each other in mock victory.  
Closing her eyes, Sabirah clenched her fists tightly in an attempt to block out their taunts. Hot tears streamed down her face. The bathroom lights above them dimmed and then sparked and fizzled with electricity, causing the two bully girls to look up in alarm.  
"Damn school is so cheap with electricity these days." The blonde girl said quietly to her friend.  
"Y-yeah damn cheap school! " The friend agreed pulling the blonde girl towards the door they hastily exited into corridor.  
As her breathing regulated itself once more, Sabirah opened her eyes to see that the girls had left.  
Slightly puzzled by their behaviour but none the less relieved that they had gone, she shrugged it off and proceeded to the nearest row of white porcelain sinks to inspect the gunk more closely in the mirror.  
"Freakin' jerk, I hate him! This tapioca pudding is going to make me stink all day!" she cursed inwardly.  
Engrossed in the task of cleaning her hair, she failed to notice the girl that snuck up from behind.  
"I'm sure that will come out with shampoo or something." The girl's voice said quietly.  
Snapping her eyes forward, Sabirah saw in the mirror a reflection of a small Asian girl who was about Hayley's age standing behind her.

The girl had short, black hair streaked with pink, and she was wearing blue shorts and a black tee shirt emblazoned with the logo for rock band Slash Monkey that Sabirah was fond of as well.  
Although the girl seemed friendly, Sabirah was still wary of her and the last thing she needed was another wisecracking asshole giving her grief.  
"Thanks," Sabirah replied sarcastically, "I'll try and remember that!"  
Shaking her head apologetically, the other girl approached the sink to the left of her and turned on the cold-water tap.  
"Sorry dude, I wasn't being sarcastic or anything. I just wanted to help you out but it came out all wrong, sorry for that."  
Feeling embarrassed about the misunderstanding, Sabirah tried to make amends with the other girl.  
"Sorry, it was my fault. I guess I expect everyone to be the same around here. I have been getting grief from an asshole bully named Vince, do you know him?"  
The girl nodded her head in reply; she did indeed have the misfortune of knowing him.

"Yeah, this was his handiwork!" Sabirah pointed angrily to her head, "Thanks to him, I'll have to smell like tapioca pudding all afternoon."  
"Yeah, the first time I came here," the girl replied, "He put stinkbugs in my locker before first period and I had to walk around stinking of stink bugs the rest of the day." The girl frowned slightly at the memory, but quickly replaced it with a smile.  
"My name is Miko Nakadai by the way, what's yours?" Miko smiled offering the other girl her hand, which she reluctantly took.  
"I'm Sabirah, Sabirah Stevenson. It's erm, nice to meet you."  
"Oh hey are you related to Hayley Stevenson is she your sister?"  
The girl nodded, rolling her eyes in dismay. Wondering what her little sister had been saying about her, if anything at all.  
"Yeah that's right she's a pain in the butt but I love her dearly."  
Miko smiled wryly "Yeah, I don't have any siblings but I have some good friends whom I consider family. Now we may not always get along, but we'd definitely fight for each other if needs be."  
Sabirah was about to reply but was interrupted by the school bell ringing above their heads signalling the end of lunch hour.  
Grabbing her satchel off the side, Miko turned and smiled at her new friend offering one last piece of advice.  
"Don't let it get you down, Next time come sit with us for lunch and we'll protect you OK?"

Waving her friend goodbye, Sabirah took one last look in the mirror before taking in deep breath and releasing it. Feel assured once more, she grabbed her bag off the sink and departed the toilets for class.

-88-88-88-

The end of the day was a welcome relief for all students and for Sabirah in particular because it meant that she was able to escape her tormentor for the day. As she boarded the school bus, a black blur of movement out the corner of her eye caught her attention.  
Vince was pursuing the boy whom she had met before with two of his cronies in tow. Her interest piqued she decided to follow them to see what was going on.  
Feeling his lungs about to burst, Jack slowed down running in order to get his breath back. Vince and his friends were quickly upon him, backing him into a corner with nowhere to run.  
"Look Vince, do we have to do this right now?" Jack reasoned trying not to sound like he was begging as the three burly teens bared down on him their eyes cold and unfriendly.  
"Shut up Derby," Vince mocked mispronouncing his name on purpose, "we have a score to settle here and you're not leaving until I'm satisfied." Vince signalled the two thugs, who grabbed an arm each so Jack could not get away. Struggling uselessly in their grip Jack looked his nemesis square in the eye, unwilling to be cowed or intimidated by him.  
"Look Vince, I don't know what problems you have. Nevertheless, you have to stop tormenting and hurting people. Someone needs to stand up to cowards like you."  
Slapping him across the face, the bully smirked enjoying the feeling of power he was experiencing.  
A car alarm sounded in the distance, followed by another and then another until the whole school parking lot was a cacophony of noise. Dogs started barking in the distance, which only added to the chaos.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Jack took this as his cue to leave. Slipping out of their grip, he had managed to ditch the thugs and run away before they had even realised he was gone. To be honest, Jack was not even sure what had happened. However, he was certainly grateful that it did.  
Hiding behind a tree Jack took this opportunity to regain his breath and thank whatever good luck deity that was up there. Radioing Arcee to come pick him up, he only waited a short time before she arrived with her holographic rider 'driving'.  
"So was this a bad day at the office then?" Arcee probed, concerned about her human friend, "He didn't hurt you did he?"  
Taking out a helmet from compartment under the seat, Jack sighed and placed it onto his head. He was not in the mood to talk about it, and avoided the discussion by doing up the buckles on his headgear.  
"If he's bothering you that much can't you just tell the teacher or something?" Arcee offered hoping he would take her advice. He remained silent unwilling to discuss the matter further, and she realised she was not getting anywhere with the stubborn human.

Feeling her patience wearing thin, she huffed in exasperation and decided not to push the matter further. She understood that he wasn't ready to talk about it just yet, and would tell her eventually when he was ready.  
Climbing onto the bike, the duo sped off back to Jacks' house. Meanwhile in the darkness, a lone figure crept away from the scene.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

In the missile silo, that acted as the Autobots base. Ratchet had decided to take advantage of the lull in activity and busied himself with routine checks on the Ground Bridge systems. It had not been the same since the incident with the Scraplets and it was still glitching every now and then.  
Briefly shuttering his optics, the medic suppressed a small shudder as he thought back to those events leading up to the infestation. It had caught them completely unaware and thanks to the actions of their human companions, they had managed to exterminate the blighters. As much as he hated to say it, mostly out of embarrassment. He thanked Primus for their human friends who showed a great deal of ingenuity and fortitude during the crisis.

Bringing himself back to the present, Ratchet checked his internal chronometer and frowned with concern.  
He had not heard from Optimus in over three cycles, he had been so busy with his repairs he had failed to notice that he had been out of touch with him for so long.  
Inwardly cursing himself Ratchet pressed a button on the console to contact his leader, whom along with Bulkhead and Bumblebee was out on a scouting mission for energon.  
"Optimus Prime, this is Ratchet do you require any assistance over." He paused and waited for what seemed like several breems before his commander's voice came through the comm. system.  
"We are fine Ratchet," The leader responded, "We have found several sources of energon, but came up against resistance which has since been neutralised."  
"Are there any casualties that need tending to?" Ratchet asked concerned for his fellow bots.  
"Not unless you like fixing 'Cons Ratch." Bulkhead chuckled chiming into the conversation.  
Ignoring the lapse of protocol on Bulkheads part, Optimus and Ratchet continued their conversation.  
"Ratchet please open up the Ground Bridge." Optimus ordered, "We are coming back to base with much needed supplies."  
Obeying his leaders command, Ratchet operated the lever that activated the portal bringing his comrades home from their tiring mission.

The familiar green glow of the Ground Bridge portal blossomed into life. Shortly thereafter, his friends arrived in their vehicle modes carrying between them in their storage holds the much-needed energon.  
"I am relieved that your mission was a success." Ratchet said addressing Prime.  
Transforming into his robot mode, Optimus greeted his medic with a hardy handshake.  
"I'm sure there will be time later for a celebration. However I-" Optimus was abruptly interrupted by Fowler appearing on their computer screen.  
"Prime!" The human thundered without preamble, his face screwed up with barely concealed anger.  
Letting out a vented sigh from his exhaust, Prime steeled himself for more bad news. He knew that when Fowler called it was because something terrible had happened.

"Have you seen what is on the news recently?" Fowler asked him.  
"No I haven't Agent Fowler, why do you ask?" He did not like where this conversation was going.  
"M.E.C.H has stolen some highly experimental equipment from Oscorp Industries.  
Now we don't know the full extent of the damage but here's a list of what they've stolen so far."  
Data appeared on screen listing the equipment stolen by M.E.C.H. Edging closer to the screen, Prime studied the list with concern.  
Judging from the list of stolen items, Optimus could only surmise that M.E.C.H intended to build another robot similar to the one they had built before when they had stolen Bumblebee's T-Cog.  
There was one item in particular that Optimus was concerned to know more about.  
"Agent Fowler does the mind transference machine actually work or is it still just a prototype?"  
Shaking his head negative, the dark skinned human sighed rubbing his hands tiredly over his face.  
"Not as far as we know, however, there is a chance that it might work. Who knows the number of crackpot scientists Silas has working for him."  
Optimus digested this piece of information, mulling over the options he had available to him.  
Unable to offer any advice, Fowler shrugged his shoulders uselessly; he could certainly empathise with the Autobot leaders' frustration.  
The American government had been trying to track Silas Bishop ever since he surfaced six months ago when his group had tried to hijack the D.I.N.G.U.S.  
So far nothing had turned up, no leads, nothing. Every time they came close to getting him, he would only manage to slip away again. It frustrated Fowler to know that this lunatic was at large and he could not do anything about it. After a couple minutes silence, Fowler spoke up once more.  
"I just wanted to let you know the situation better to be prepared than unprepared. We'll keep trying to track him down but as we both know Prime he is one slippery son of a bitch - Fowler out" Terminating the connection, Optimus turned to face the rest of the team who had finished storing away the energon and was now looking at him expectantly.  
"Let me guess," Bulkhead offered grimly, "M.E.C.H is going to try and finish what they started, by making a Cybertronian army only this time, with human drivers."

*Are they really gonna try doing that again!?* Bumblebee beeped in disbelief.

"That maniac," Ratchet interrupted, "he's not going to stop until he's achieved world domination. Him and Megatron deserve each other!" He had been disgusted by the fact that Silas he had already tried to butchered two Transformers; Breakdown and Bumblebee in order to learn their secrets. Now it seemed he was determined to finish what he started.

Lifting up his hand the leader waited until they were silent before speaking again.

"We can only assume for the time being that he does intend to make a weapon. However we do not yet know the extent of its power or how he intends to use it." Optimus advised sagely," So we must all be on our guard from now on and report anything suspicious that might give us a lead."  
The Autobots gathered unanimously agreed, each of them understood the risks involved and what was at stake.  
The computer blipped into life as Arcee's signal appeared on screen along with her image and vital stats.  
"This is Arcee," she stated, "I'm requesting a Ground Bridge back to base. I've dropped Jack off at home and now he's being scolded by his mother."  
Operating the switch Ratchet opened the Ground Bridge once more, allowing Arcee passage back to base.

When she appeared, Bulkhead walked towards her. Draping his thick armoured arm over her tiny shoulders, he squeezed her in a friendly one-arm hug.  
"So is Jack grounded again 'Cee?" Bulkhead asked mockingly.  
"Yeah I think he might be in really big trouble this time Bulk." Arcee replied a smile forming on her lips, "He'll probably be doing chores for the next couple of weeks after school."  
Chuckling to himself Bulkhead replied, "Oh well, I guess it could be worse for him."  
"Arcee," Optimus stated interrupting the pairs friendly banter. "We have been put on a high alert status, M.E.C.H. have reappeared again, only this time they have raided a science laboratory."  
Shrugging off Bulkheads' heavy arm, Arcee moved towards her commander with a puzzled and concerned expression on her face.  
"So what does that mean exactly?" Arcee queried, "Do they intend to make a weapon of some sort?"  
Shaking his helm Optimus told Arcee what he had told Bulkhead.  
"We can assume so yes, so we all must be extra vigilant in our patrols. Just make sure you are ready when the time comes."  
"Oh I will be Optimus," Arcee declared confidently, "I will be."

-88-88-88-

Walking home from school, Sabirah had this nagging feeling in the back of her mind that somebody was watching her. However, when she turned around there was nobody there - probably the result of watching too many horror movies she reasoned.

Walking up the gravel driveway to her house, she placed the key in the door and let herself in. Dropping her bag on the sofa, she carried out the task of preparing food for herself and her sibling. Grabbing the macaroni and cheese out the fridge, she pulled a face as she opened up the plastic blue container to plop the contents into a large bowl. Sniffing it suspiciously, she placed the bowl into microwave and headed down the corridor to her sister's bedroom to carry out the next part of her plan.

Knocking on her sister's door, she entered her room to find her lying sprawled out on the bed reading some teen magazines she had bought.  
"Hey Hayley it's time for dinner, come and set the table ok?"  
Looking up at her big sister, Hayley scowled in annoyance and threw a pillow at her.  
"Jeeze Sabs, don't you ever knock?" Hayley replied sarcastically.  
"Get up now Hayley don't make me tell mom!"  
"Don't make me tell MOOOM!" the young girl echoed mockingly.  
Grabbing her sibling by the arm, Sabirah dragged her to her feet and started to push her out the bedroom door in the direction of the living room.  
"Goddamit Hayley, just do as I say for once and set the DAMN table NOW!" Sabirah bellowed, feeling her blood pressure rising once more.  
Dragging her feet along the floor, Hayley moved hesitantly towards the living room to carry out her chore but not before giving her sister, a 'V' salute with her left hand.  
"I saw that Hayley, don't make me come over there!" she warned.

Outside the living room window, the metal bird-spy continued its observation of the occupants within. When the time was right, Silas would use the girl to show the world just how powerful he could be and make his enemies tremble at his feet.


End file.
